Like for the Randy Johnson's 300th win series, this one is going to be six parts
Part I: The Introduction (you are here)
Part II: The Player (January 27)
Part III: The Set-up (January 28)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)
Professional sports are full of milestones. Whether you're looking at basketball or football or hockey or baseball, there are certain milestones that confirm the player as among the best of the best. On March 7, 2017, the basketball world celebrated when the Dallas Mavericks's Dirk Nowitzki became the 7th player in NBA/ABA history to record 30,000 points, joining such luminaries as Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and of course Michael Jordan. On December 31, 2017, Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers became the ninth quarterback in NFL history to reach 50,000 passing yards, an illustrious list that also includes Hall of Famers Dan Marino, John Elway and Brett Favre and future Hall of Famers Peyton and Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady. And fans of the NHL are counting down to see if Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Losers (I mean Capitals) can join 19 others in reaching 600 goals this season.
Meanwhile baseball is full of milestones. Fans love to celebrate milestones for every statistic:1,500 runs, 1,500 RBIs, 500 doubles, 3,000 strikeouts, 300 saves. Meanwhile three milestones stand out above the others as the most cherished milestone: 300 wins, 500 home runs, and 3,000 hits. The players that reach those hallowed marks receive their stamp of approval, and for the longest time it meant a guaranteed mark of immortality and a spot in the legendary Baseball Hall of Fame. Fans everywhere would wring their hands in agony whenever a player deemed unworthy got close to reaching one of those three milestone clubs, such as when Dave Kingman was marching his way towards 500 home runs, or when Jamie Moyer came back from Tommy John surgery to challenge 300 wins, or when Johnny Damon made it a goal to get to 3,000 hits.
While each of those milestones still hold a place in a baseball fan's heart, the overall perception of each of these milestones has somewhat changed. The 500 home run club was revered because of baseball's love of the long ball, but the performance enhancing drugs scandal has rendered many of the members suspect in the eyes of fans and sportswriters. Meanwhile, the 300 win club is the most exclusive of the three, with only 24 members, all but one of whom are in the Hall of Fame (the only exception being steroid pariah Roger Clemens). However, the pitching win is under continuous attack, from analysts like Brian Kenny of the MLB Network leading charges to Kill the Win, and from managers taking starting pitchers out earlier leaving relief pitchers getting an increasing amount of wins and losses. It really is appearing likely that we won't get another 300 game winner for a long time, if not ever*.
*Because 300 wins is still my favorite of the milestone clubs, I can't help but stop and comment on the progress that pitchers are making in their quest for 300 wins. Back when I wrote the sixth and final part of the Randy Johnson's 300th win series on June 4, 2010 I identified a few pitchers that may have a shot at getting to 300, including Jamie Moyer, Andy Pettitte, Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Felix Hernandez, and CC Sabathia. Moyer and Pettitte both petered out with 269 and 256 wins respectively. Mark Buehrle won 15 games for the first time since 2009 in 2015, then retired with 214 wins. Roy Halladay struggled with shoulder problems before retiring in 2013 with 203 wins, and now he's dead, having perished in a tragic plane crash on November 7, 2017. Felix Hernandez and CC Sabathia had a few great seasons before struggling with off years. King Felix has 160 wins and looks like he may never reach the levels he had from 2009-2013. CC has evolved into a crafty lefty and has with 237 wins may still make it around 2022, but it's far from a guarantee. Meanwhile the title of winningest pitcher has fallen to Bartolo Colon, who was all but dead in the water with only 153 wins at 36 on June 4, 2009 and was unsigned on June 4, 2010 but now has 240 wins. There's no way he'll get to 300 wins. Meanwhile some of the young studs have evolved into seasoned veterans with some hope for glory, including Justin Verlander (188 wins), Zack Greinke (172 wins), Clayton Kershaw (144 wins), Max Scherzer (141 wins), and Madison Bumgarner (104 wins but at the age of 28). Meanwhile here's my June 4 wins tracker.
That leaves 3,000 hits as perhaps the most prestigious of the milestones. Yes, with 31 members it is larger than 300 wins (24 members) and 500 home runs (27 members), but it's not quite as tainted by PEDs as 500 home runs (only two members have been suspended for or suspected of using PEDs compared to eight for the 500 home run club), and it's a milestone that's not completely unattainable like modern pitchers and 300 wins or players without much power and 500 home runs. Plus, there usually isn't any controversy about hits. Rule 10.05 that determines the scoring of base hits leaves some situations that could be ruled an error or a hit at the judgment of the scorer, but for the most part, "A base hit is a statistic credited to a batter when such batter reaches base safely...the batter reaches first base (or any succeeding base) safely on a fair ball that settles on the ground, that touches a fence before being touched by a fielder, or the batter reaches first base safely on a fair ball hit with such force, or so slowly, that any fielder attempting to make a play with the ball has no opportunity to do so." (MLB Rulebook, pg. 97)
The history of the 3,000 hit club is about as old as Major League Baseball itself. Since the start of the National Association (recognized as a Major League by Baseball Reference but not Major League Baseball) in 1871, there has never been a season that has not had at least one active player that would eventually be a part of the 3,000 hit club. The very first man to reach the 3,000 hit plateau was Adrian Constantine "Cap" Anson. Anson got his start as a 19 year old with the Rockford Forest Citys in the National Association in 1871. He then moved to the Chicago White Stockings (later the Cubs) when the National Association gave way to the National League in 1876. The game was so rough and tumble in the 19th century that players played with such reckless abandon that they shortened not only their careers but their lives. Yet Anson played steadily up to the age of 45, and reached 3,000 hits in either 1894 or 1897 depending on how one views the National Association. Besides his brilliant play on the field, Anson was also a rip-roaring racist who was instrumental in establishing the color line that kept minority players like the one we will write about out of Major League Baseball, so fuck him. I hope when the Hall of Fame ever decides to remove people from the Hall they'd throw his fucking ass out into the fucking streets where he belongs, but that will never happen because of his 3,000 hits. So let's just move on. There were several other 19th century players that got to 2,500 hits, but couldn't quite make the jump to 3,000. They included such forgotten names as Jake Beckley, Jesse Burkett, George Davis, Lave Cross, Jim O'Rourke, Ed Delahanty, George Van Haltren, and Jimmy Ryan.
A few competing leagues sprang up in the 19th century to compete against the National League, such as the Union Association in 1884, the American Association from 1882-1891, and the Player's League in 1890. No league was able to challenge the National League's might until 1901, when Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson declared his Western League a major league, changed its name to the American League, and started to sign players from the National League until a truce was able to be instituted. Two of the biggest position players in the game at that time were involved in bidding wars by the American League. One was Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner, who was given a lucrative contract offer by the Chicago White Stockings, but turned it down to stay with his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. The other was Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, who was more than happy to jump from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Philadelphia Athletics, and was instrumental to helping the American League stay afloat. Wagner and Lajoie kept up their prolific playing, and they became the second and third players to reach 3,000 hits in 1914, with Wagner reaching the milestone on either a double off of Erskine Mayer on June 9 (if you go by MLB.com) or a single off of Pete Schneider on June 28 (if you go by Retrosheet / Baseball Reference) and Lajoie doing so on a double against Marty McHale on September 27.
The first 20 years of the 20th century was known as the Deadball Era because of the distinct lack of power. Players can lead their league with barely double digit home runs. John Franklin "Home Run" Baker led the American League in homers with only nine in 1914. However,while pitchers like Christy Mathewson, Eddie Plank, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander ruled the game, hitters were still able to generate a good amount of offense. Through precision hitting and an avoidance of strikeouts, hitters were still able to hit over .400 with regularity. The offensive star of the deadball era was Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb from Georgia. The Georgia Peach led the league in batting average a record 12 times from 1907 to 1919, hitting over .400 in 1911 and 1912. When George Herman "Babe" Ruth led the game into the era of the Home Runs in 1920, Cobb was able to adapt and established a career high in home runs in 1921. That same year he also reached the 3,000 hit club with a hit against Elmer Myers on August 19. Almost six years later, Cobb became the first player to record 4,000 hits, either on July 18, 1927 against Sam Gibson (according to MLB) or on July 21, 1927 against Joe Shaute (according to Retrosheet / Baseball Reference)*.
*Cobb's hit totals became a source of contention between the folks at MLB and the folks at Retrosheet. In 1985 when Pete Rose made his run on Cobb's all-time hit record in 1985, Cobb was credited with 4,191 hits. However, in the 1970s, a couple of researchers made the astounding discovery that Cobb was credited with two extra hits in 1910 to help him win the batting title over none other than our friend Nap Lajoie. The official story from AL President Ban Johnson was that the scorer from 1910 failed to record the two hits when in fact he had. It was believed that Johnson did so because he did not want Lajoie to win the title because of a dubious 8 for 8 day when it was readily opponent that Lajoie's opponents allowed him to get all the hits. It's a fascinating story, and I'm sure Joe Posnanski tells it a lot better than I can. At any rate, Cobb is credited with 4,191 hits on MLB.com while Baseball Reference credits him with 4,189 hits.
Ty Cobb was not the only hitting star in the deadball era. Tristram E "Tris" Speaker was a hardscrabble Texan who remains one of a select group of players to win a World Series with both the Red Sox and the Indians. Edward Trowbridge "Eddie" Collins was a dignified New Yorker who remains one of a select group of players to win a World Series with both the Athletics and the White Sox. They both hit well above .300 during careers that lasted well over 20 seasons, and in 1925 they both reached the 3,000 hit milestone. Speaker reached the milestone on May 17 with a hit against Tom Zachary. Collins reached the milestone less than a month later, with Retrosheet / Baseball Reference crediting him with reaching the milestone on June 2 against Hooks Dauss and MLB.com crediting him with reaching the milestone on June 3 against Rip Collins. I swear, that's the last time there is any disagreement between the two sources.
The 1920s and 1930s were a period marked by the highest offensive production prior to the "Steroid Era." It wasn't unusual to see entire teams hit over .300 for the year or score over 1,000 runs, while in 1930 the league average batting average in the National League was .303. And yet only one player that made his debut during these two decades recorded 3,000 hits. Some of it may be related to the fact that American involvement in World War II led players to enlist or get drafted and lose large chunks of their career fighting in the war. It's what kept Robert William Andrew "Bob" Feller" from getting to 300 wins. However, it may also be related to the fact that with so many balls flying out of the park, people just didn't care much about offensive milestones anymore. Outfielder Edgar Charles "Sam" Rice primarily of the Washington Senators retired in 1934 he had 2,987 hits. When asked later why he retired so close to 3,000 hits, Rice replied, "The truth of the matter is, I didn't even know how many hits I had." (Allen and Meany.) It seems strange because 20 years prior to Rice's retirement, newspapers made a big deal about Honus Wagner and Nap Lajoie getting their 3,000th hit, but times do change. At any rate, when Paul Glee Waner recorded his 3,000th hit on June 19, 1942 against Rip Sewell, it made the newspapers all over the country. After all, it had been 17 years since Collins did it, the longest or second longest gap between players reaching the milestone (depending on how you view the National Association.)
The 3,000 hit milestone went through another hibernation as players affected by the war retired falling short. The only other player that played in the 1940s to record 3,000 hits was Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial, the best player born in Donora, Pennsylvania on November 21 in baseball history. (Sorry, Ken Griffey Jr., but you're just the second best.) Musial was a genial and gregarious outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and so beloved that opposing fans gave him the nickname "Stan the Man." He was also a terrific hitter who still ranks in the top 10 in hits, doubles, runs scored, RBIs, in the top 20 in triples, walks, and slugging percentage, and in the top 30 in on base percentage and home runs. He reached the 3,000 hit milestone with a pinch hit double on May 13, 1958 against Moe Drabowsky (who would become the losing pitcher in Early Wynn's 300th win over five years later).
Waner and Musial were the only players to reach 3,000 hits in the 40 seasons between 1930 and 1969. Several Hall of Fame players from the first 60 years of the 20th century retired with over 2,500 hits, including the aforementioned Sam Rice, Sam Crawford, Willie Keeler, Rogers Hornsby, Al Simmons, Zack Wheat, Frank Frisch, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Charlie Gehringer, George Sisler, Luke Appling, Goose Goslin, Lou Gehrig, Fred Clarke, Max Carey, Nellie Fox, Ted Williams, Harry Heilmann, Jimmie Foxx, Rabbit Maranville, Ernie Banks, Richie Ashburn, and Heinie Manush. (There was also Doc Cramer, who many feel is the worst player in baseball history with 2,500 hits. He had no power, he didn't walk, he couldn't field. All he did was hit singles. He ranks 26th all time in singles, and all of those ahead of him had over 150 more hits than Cramer.) For some people it seems that the 3,000 hit milestone was too difficult for hitters. Yet when the 1970s began, baseball was greeted with a rush of players to reach the milestone.
- Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron was the star slugger for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves. He hit his 3,000th hit with an RBI single off of Wayne Simpson in the second game of a double header on May 17, 1970. Later in the game he walloped his 570th career home run on his way to 755.
- Willie Howard Mays Jr. was the star slugger for the New York and San Francisco Giants. He dazzled with his bat and glove, and had 620 career home runs when he got his 3,000th hit with a single off of Mike Wegener on July 18, 1970
- Roberto Clemente was the spiritual leader for Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won World Series titles in 1960 and 1971. He had the most hits of any player in the 1960s, and he reached his 3,000th hit with a double off of Jon Matlack on September 30, 1972. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter in what would have been his next plate appearance, and never had another in the season. Later that year he died in a plane crash on a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua.
- Albert William "Not Acidic" Kaline was the popular outfielder for the Detroit Tigers. He won a batting title at age 20 in 1955, and continued to hit for the next decade and a half. His offense was eroding in the 1970s but he hung on to reach 3,000 with a double against the Orioles' Dave McNally on September 24, 1974.
- Peter Edward "Pete" Rose was the hustling outfielder for the Big Red Machine. He slashed his way to 200 hits nine times from 1965 to 1977, and reached 3,000 hits on April 29, 1978 with a single against Steve Rogers. He had his sights on even higher
- Louis Clark Brock was the speedy outfielder primarily for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was one of the players that helped reintroduce the stolen base as an offensive weapon in the 1960s and 1970s. He had claimed the all-time stolen base record by the time he recorded his 3,000th hit with a single against Dennis Lamp on August 13, 1979.
- Carl Michael "Yaz" Yastrzemski was the successor to Ted Williams as the left fielder and leader of the Boston Red Sox. He won a Triple Crown in 1967 leading the league in home runs, RBIs and batting average, and later became only the third Triple Crown winner to reach 3,000 hits when he did so with a single off of Jim Beattie on September 12, 1979.
Carew may have been the only player to reach the 3,000 hit milestone in the 1980s, but there were plenty of players who fell short, Hall of Famers and non-Hall of Famers alike: Frank and Brooks Robinson, Vada Pinson, Al Oliver, Tony Perez, Rusty Staub, Bill Buckner, Dave Parker, Billy Williams, Luis Aparicio, Steve Garvey, Reggie Jackson, Willie Davis, Joe Morgan, and Buddy Bell. However, there would soon be another tidal wave of players reaching 3,000 hits.
- Robin R Yount was the leader and the most popular player on the Milwaukee Brewers, winning MVPs as both a shortstop and a center fielder. He made the last out in Nolan Ryan's 300th win, but two years later Yount reached a milestone of his own with a single against Jose Mesa on September 9, 1992.
- George Howard Brett was the leader and the most popular player on the Kansas City Royals. He won three batting titles, one in each decade from the 1970s to the 1990s, and captured the nation's attention with he threatened to hit .400 in 1980. He would later get his 3,000th hit with a single against Tim Fortugno on September 30, 1992, 20 years after Clemente did it.
- David Mark Winfield was the slugging outfielder for the San Diego Padres and the New York Yankees who also won seven Gold Gloves thanks to his fearsome throwing arm. He was on the Minnesota Twins by the time he got his 3,000th hit with a single off of future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley on September 16, 1993. So far he is the only player to get his 3,000th hit off of a Hall of Famer.
- Edward Clarence Murray was the longtime first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, although by the time he recorded his 3,000th hit with a single off Mike Trombley on June 30, 1995 he was helping the Cleveland Indians win 100 games in a 144-game season. Only a year later he became the third player to get 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.
- Paul Leo Molitor was a longtime teammate of Robin Yount in Milwaukee before signing free agent deals with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins. He was with the Twins when he became the first player to reach 3,000 hits on a triple, doing so against Jose Rosado on September 16, 1996.
- Anthony Keith "Tony" Gwynn was the beloved star of the San Diego Padres and the best pure hitter in the National League since Rogers Hornsby. He won eight batting titles, tied for second behind Ty Cobb. And he reached 3,000 hits on August 6, 1999, singling against Dan Smith.
- Wade Anthony Boggs was a star third baseman with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees and the best pure hitter in the American League since Rod Carew. He recorded 200 hits in seven straight seasons from 1983 to 1989 and still managed at least 89 walks in each of those seasons. There was some hopes he can get 3,000 hits on the same day as Gwynn, but he did a day later, becoming the first player to homer for his 3,000th hit, off of Chris Haney.
- Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. was the longtime shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles. He was best known for playing in 2,632 straight games, but more importantly was one of the players to re-establish the shortstop as an offensive force. His streak had ended by the time he got his 3,000th hit. There was some thought he can do it with Gwynn and Boggs in 1999, but injuries kept him from reaching the milestone until April 15, 2000 with a single against Hector Carrasco.
- Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson was the flamboyant outfielder primarily for the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees. He reinvented the role of the leadoff man, setting single season and career records for stolen bases, breaking the longtime record for runs and walks, and hitting more leadoff home runs than any other player. He reached the 3,000 as a member of the Padres on October 7, 2001 with a double against John Thomson.
In 2005, Wade Boggs was elected to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot, continuing a streak of 14 straight 3,000-hit players that was elected on the first ballot (not including Pete Rose, who was banned for betting on baseball.) That same year, on March 18, Congress also held hearings about the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. Palmeiro, who former Rangers teammate Jose Canseco said he injected with steroids, was one of the players called to testify. Palmeiro gave a passionate testimony, punctuating it with, "I have never used steroids. Period," wagging his finger for emphasis. Later, when the season started, it was the first time that baseball performed steroids testing, after a sufficient number of players failed a drug test during a random test two years earlier. Any players caught with steroids or any other related substance would get a 10-day suspension. Palmeiro didn't care. His bat had slowed, but he was still on pace to get his 3,000th hit, which he finally did with a double against Joel Pineiro on July 15, 2005, which sailed well over the head of the Mariners' 26 year old third baseman. The crowd of 39,044 cheered alongside the rest of the baseball world.
Little did they know, Palmeiro had a major crisis brewing in the background. Earlier in the season, in fact only a few months after giving his passionate testimony, Palmeiro was informed that one of his urine samples had tested positive for the steroid stanozolol. Palmeiro went about trying to undo the damage. He told baseball officials that he felt the test results was from a tainted vitamin B12 shot. He submitted additional urine samples. He made personal appeals to then-commissioner Allen Huber “Bud” Selig, as well as former Rangers owner and then-President George Walker Bush. All of those appeals failed to make any difference, and an arbitrator reviewing the case ruled against Palmeiro. And on August 1, just two weeks after what was supposed to have been his crowning achievement, Rafael Palmeiro was officially suspended for failing baseball’s new drug policy. The news was greeted with a collective shock. There had been a few players suspended earlier in the year, but those were largely no-name players, guys trying to stay in the game like Alex Sanchez and Rafael Betancourt. Rafael Palmeiro was different. He was a perennial All-Star and a future Hall of Famer. He was only the fourth player with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. He was so convincing in his testimony that Congress had invited him to be a member of a committee targeting steroid use in youth. And now he was outed as a steroid user himself, confirming the suspicions many had held. The ten-game suspension he got was only a slap on the wrist compared to the 81 games that first time offenders get now, but the damage to his reputation was done. He came back from his suspension and was booed mercilessly no matter where he played. He had only two hits in 26 at bats (a .077 batting average) and was eventually shelved for the rest of the season. He faded away with an uncertain future. Many fans felt that the 3,000 hit club would never be the same with a damned steroid user in its ranks.
The 2007 Hall of Fame elections were a joyous occasion, with Ripken and Gwynn getting voted in by overwhelming margins, the 15th and 16th straight 3,000-hit player to make it on the first ballot (excluding Rose, of course.) However, one ballot result that people took note of was that of Mark McGwire. McGwire was a celebrated hero when he set the single-season home run record in 1998. He was named on the All-Century team and was touted as a future Hall of Famer. However, he became suspected of steroid use when the PED scandal broke, and his damning testimony in 2005 where he continuously took the 5th practically confirmed it. His 23.5% was well short of the 75% necessary for election. Voters had made it known that they weren’t letting any players connected to steroids near the Hall of Fame. None of that really mattered to Craig Alan Biggio. He was the longtime catcher / second baseman / center fielder / second baseman with the Houston Astros. He was one of the best players in the late 1990s delivering Gold Glove defense and solid offense for Astros teams that won four division titles from 1997-2001. By 2007, Biggio’s skills had eroded to the point where he was well below average, but he was closing in on 3,000 hits. He had one more big game in him, as on June 28 he recorded five hits, including a single off of Aaron Cook that was the 3,000th of his career. He was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, but the game paused as the sport celebrated the achievement. (Frank Thomas reached 500 home runs that same day, but that milestone is even more tainted in the eyes of fans.) Then the game went on and fans went back to following Barry Bonds’s assault of Hank Aaron’s home run record and Tom Glavine’s chase for 300 wins (not really, I’m sure I was the only one that cared about that.)
2011 was an interesting year for Hall of Fame observers. Five years had passed since Rafael Palmeiro’s baseball exile, and he was making his ballot debut at long last. Voters who said they planned on voting for Palmeiro were jeered as people that didn’t care about the sanctity of the sport. When the results were released, Palmeiro had received only 11% of the vote, barely half of what McGwire got, and McGwire had admitted steroid use two years earlier. Nevertheless, that year the 3,000 hit club was preparing to welcome its newest member. Derek Sanderson Jeter was the son of biracial parents and a huge Yankees fan growing up. He was drafted by the Yankees in 1992, and within four years he had established himself as the starting shortstop for the Yankees, and helped them win four World Series titles from 1996-2000. He inspired both cheers and jeers, but nobody can doubt his charisma and his performance. He was a consistent .300 hitter and delivered big hits, and by 2011 he was knocking on 3,000’s door. No Yankees player had ever reached that milestone, and he joined the club in style. Jeter was never known for his power, and had only 236 going into the game on July 9, 2011. Still, he always seemed to come through in big moments and he did so again that day. Facing future Cy Young winner David Price, Jeter knocked a full count curveball deep into the left field stands for his 3,000th career hit. He joined Wade Boggs as the only players to reach 3,000 with a round-tripper. The celebration for one of the most respected men in the game lasted for around four minutes. Later in the game Jeter added three more hits including the go-ahead run in the eighth.
With the sound rejection of Rafael Palmeiro, the 3,000 hit milestone was no longer a Hall of Fame guarantee, and Craig Biggio found out the hard way. He made his ballot debut in 2013 alongside some of the biggest names in baseball history who all happened to be some of the biggest steroid pariahs in baseball history, men like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza (strongly suspected of steroid use by some because he had back acne) and Sammy Sosa. The picture became even more muddled, because while some can make arguments against McGwire and Palmeiro on purely baseball terms, there was no doubt about the qualifications for Bonds and Clemens. All of a sudden a small group of voters that didn’t vote for McGwire or Palmeiro were voting for Bonds and Clemens, while most other voters soundly rejected them. Biggio was caught in the mess, but when the dust cleared nobody had been voted in. Despite a resume that included 3,000 hits and 668 doubles (fifth all time), Biggio got only 68.2% of the vote. He missed again a year later when 300-game winners Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine made the ballot. He didn’t make it in until 2015, his third year on the ballot, alongside Randy Johnson, whose 300th win was the focus of my obsession six years earlier.
2015 was also a crucial year for another big name in both baseball and steroid history: Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, better known to fans as A-Rod. Rodriguez was one of the best high school players in history, and was selected as the #1 overall pick by the Seattle Mariners in 1993. A year later he made his major league debut as an 18 year old. By 20 he had established himself as one of the best players in the game. He signed a 10 year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers that was by far the largest in baseball history. While A-Rod performed well, averaging 52 home runs in three seasons in Texas, the Rangers floundered due to poor investments elsewhere. The Rangers were looking for a trade partner for A-Rod and a deal was made with the Boston Red Sox, but the Player’s Association nixed the deal because it involved a restructuring of A-Rod’s contract. A-Rod ended up going to the New York Yankees who were looking for a new third baseman. A-Rod was frustratingly inconsistent, but after steroid pariah Bonds broke Aaron’s sacred record on August 7, 2007 (two days after Glavine’s 300th win and on the third anniversary of Maddux’s 300th win), A-Rod was seen as the great clean hope to bring purity back to the home run record. All that came crashing down when a Sports Illustrated report by Selena Roberts in 2009 revealed that that A-Rod used steroids when he was on the Rangers. A-Rod admitted his guilt but insisted that he was now clean. He had a solid year and helped the Yankees win the World Series, so he was at the very least allowed to keep playing. Then in 2013, things came crashing down again. A fired employee from an anti-aging clinic in Florida called Biogenesis leaked information to the Miami New Times that the clinic was supplying baseball players with PEDs. The paper reported that A-Rod was one of the players linked to the clinic. MLB pounced on the opportunity to clear the PED taint from their hallowed game. Using some strong-arm technique, MLB obtained the medical records, and handed out suspensions to the offending players, from nobodies like Fermando Martinez to All-Stars like Jhonny Peralta to former MVP winner like Ryan Braun. Yet nobody got a harsher sentence than A-Rod, who got additional time for cover-up and obstruction. The suspension covered the rest of the 2013 season and all of the 2014 season. He appealed the suspension and got to play out the 2013 season, but an arbitrator upheld the suspension and A-Rod was suspended for all of 2014.
By 2015, A-Rod was even more of a pariah than he already had been. He was not given a guaranteed spot on the team, and with his one-year layoff there was some question whether or not he could even make the team. However, A-Rod showed up very different from what he was before the suspension. In the past A-Rod was seen as a self-absorbed prima donna. People liked to joke about the fact he allegedly had a painting in his apartment of himself as a centaur. He was now self-deprecating and willing to become a better teammate. He performed well enough to make the team and was able to resume his chase of 2,000 runs, 2,000 RBIs, and of course 3,000 hits. A-Rod ended up playing in 151 games, the most since his last MVP season in 2007. He passed 2,000 runs and 2,000 RBIs, and 660 home runs (which was Willie Mays’s home run total.) And on June 19, 2015 he got his 3,000th hit, a solo home run off of former Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander(p). The celebration was understandably muted, but it was a nice moment for A-Rod. He was the 29th member of the 3,000-hit club.
The 30th member was far from being as controversial as A-Rod. However, like A-Rod, Ichiro Suzuki made his debut in the Nippon Professional Baseball League with the Orix Blue Wave. And by 20, he was one of the best players in all of Japan. He established a single season hit record with 210 in 1994 (since broken by Matt Murton, who had played in Tom Glavine’s 300th win.) He had 1,278 hits in seven seasons, and by 2000 he was ready to tackle a bigger challenge: Major League Baseball. By that point a few Japanese pitchers had found success in North America, but the majority of position players had been busts. He was able to enter the posting system, and the Seattle Mariners won the rights to sign him to a contract, which they did. Ichiro was given number 51, which was born by future 300 game winner Randy Johnson from 1989 until he was traded in 1998. And Ichiro thrived in America. In his rookie season in 2001 he led the league with a .350 batting average and 242 hits, as the Mariners went on to a record 116 wins. The Legend of Ichiro was born. Over the next 10 seasons, Ichiro slashed his way to 200 hits every season with unbelievable bat control. He even broke George Sisler’s 84 year old record of 257 hits with 262 in 2004. By 2008, Ichiro had 1,722 hits in MLB, which combined with his 1,278 hits in Japan gave him 3,000 hits in his major league career. However, Ichiro didn’t want to just get 3,000 hits combined. After 2010 his bat speed slowed and he soon lost the speed that allowed him to beat out infield hits. Soon his OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage) fell below the league average. He was traded to the New York Yankees, and then signed with the Miami Marlins. By the time he was with the Marlins he was mostly a part-time player. Yet he was getting ever closer to 3,000 MLB hits. On August 7, 2016 (12 years after Greg Maddux’s 300th win), Ichiro blasted a triple off of Chris Rusin. It was the 3,000th hit of his career.
Unlike with 300 wins, there was no real question as to whether or not somebody else would join the club once Ichiro got that milestone hit. Sure, there were plenty of players in the preceding 25 years that got to 2,5000 but couldn’t make the final jump. This includes players like Barry Bonds, Omar Vizquel, Harold Baines, Ivan “I-Rod” Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Andre Dawson, Johnny Damon, Chipper Jones, Carlos Beltran, Roberto Alomar, Gary Sheffield, Tim Raines, Luis Gonzalez, Vladimir Guerrero, Julio Franco, Manny Ramirez, Steve Finley, and Garret Anderson. Nevertheless, there was no shortage of candidates for 3,000 hits, and in fact there was one player that was just 122 hits short of the milestone. For this man it was no longer a question of if he would get to 3,000 but when he will get to 3,000. And as you can probably tell, this man will be the focus of our entry tomorrow.
Sources: This concludes Part I of the six-part series documenting Adrian Beltre’s 3,000th hit. Yes, this entry went on a lot longer than I was hoping, and I couldn’t help but focus a lot on the PED scandal. Once again Baseball Reference and Retrosheet are indispensable resources as it allowed me to look up dates and box scores and the players with 2,500 - 2,999 hits. The 3,000 Hit Club online exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame was also a major resource as it lists all of the members in one convenient location (as well as allowing me to search Baseball Reference or Retrosheet for the discrepancies.) Finally I used the Washington Post articles on the 2005 Congressional testimonies and the Rafael Palmeiro scandal, and I’ll admit I looked up Wikipedia for some details on the Biogenesis scandal. Anyways, I hope Part II won’t be as long, but I have yet to write it.
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